Uncertainties
by Kathryn Claire O'Connor
Summary: Seventh in the Polygamy Project series! Gibbs had a horrible two weeks living with five women, but could one of them have won his heart back during that time? And where does that leave them in "the real world?"


**Here we are: the seventh story in "The Polygamy Project" series with the story that you guys wanted to see next - Gibbs'! Enjoy!:)**

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Leroy Jethro Gibbs slid into the driver's-side seat of his vehicle and gunned it, all to glad to get out of Dodge – or Federal Lane, as it were – as early as possible. One horrible experience after another had happened to him here in the past two weeks. Having Diane Sterling and Heather Gibbs – his first and second ex-wives – there had been an experience all its own, and one he would commit suicide before going through again. Hollis Mann, thankfully, had just kept her distance from them all, staying quiet and out of whatever didn't involve her. For that, he had almost fallen in love with her all over again… but he hadn't, especially not when he learned that she was actually engaged to someone else. That had left Stephanie Flynn – his third ex – and Dr. Samantha Ryan, his current girlfriend.

Or at least she had been his girlfriend at the beginning of this project two weeks ago. Now she wasn't even talking to him. She had become ridiculously unreasonable once she saw that he was actually getting along with Stephanie for once. He didn't see the problem in accepting the proverbial olive branch of friendship, but Samantha had blown a fuse and locked him out – both literally from her part of the house and figuratively – for the last week of the polygamy project.

Which hadn't exactly helped the whole "spending time with Steph instead of Sam" problem that the good doctor had with him. In Sam's driving him away, he had been driven to spend even more time with the woman with whom he would "always have Moscow." And this past week had left him with two questions: Where did he stand with Sam? What about Stephanie?

It was easy enough for him to almost fall for Hollis – his team didn't call her the fourth ex-wife for nothing – but he had no idea what to call his feelings for Stephanie.

Truth be told, this project had resigned him to the fact that there was never, in no way, going to be someone – or even any number of someone_s_ – that were going to make him feel like Shannon had. He could accept that – so long as he could find someone else to spend the rest of his life with. There had been five women in that house with him, and at one time or another he had thought that each of them was that woman. He now knew without a second thought that at least three of those women were not ever going to be that person. But now he was even questioning – once again – the woman that he thought it _would _be.

He called her time and again on the way to work that morning, but she never picked up the phone. As he was parking, he got a text from Samantha. Once he managed to figure out how to open the blasted message, he read the two fatal words, _We're over! _

He raised his eyebrows and slapped the phone closed. Two exclamation points; she must have really meant it. Well, at least that took care of question number one. Now what about question number two? Where did he stand with Stephanie Flynn? What in the world had happened between them there at 31 Federal Lane?

Because it almost seemed to him that they had somehow been able to start back right where they had left off – at the better part of where they had left off, even. As a matter of fact, spending time with Stephanie had been the one consistently enjoyable part of the past two weeks of his home life.

One good thing was not enough of a reason to stay there and continue living like that though, especially not when he stacked it all up against the horribleness of the rest of life there. That's why he had his bags in the back of his vehicle; after work, he had every intention of driving back to his house and spending the next month working on the boat in his basement as therapy from what he had been through in the past two weeks.

Those plans were thrown entirely off track, however, when, as he walked out to his car after work later that evening he received a text from Stephanie.

_Meet me at Bob Evans' for dinner at seven?_

Thus, two hours later, Jethro was sitting in a booth at the restaurant, once again enjoying his ex-wife's company.

Eventually Stephanie sighed and her smile fell into a serious expression as she said, "I guess you're wondering why I asked you here."

"Well, I didn't figure it was to discuss this place's breakfast menu," he answered lightly.

"Jethro…" Stephanie glanced away from him, fidgeting and nervous. "You can tell me I've lost my mind if you want to, but I've been thinking these past couple of weeks about us, and the way that we seemed to get our act back together, and about… what ever happened between us in that duplex. Whatever it is… I think I want to give it a chance out here in the real world."

It was crazy. He knew it was. She was crazy. But if she was crazy for wanting to give it another go, then he suddenly realized that he had gone crazy right along with her. Somewhere along the way in the last two weeks, his attraction to this woman in front of him had come back on so many levels, and he wanted to have again what they'd had once upon a time.

Of all the uncertainties that he had settled throughout the day, this one was the one that he was now most certain about. He wanted to try again with Stephanie as his one and only wife.

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